Google is continuing to lay off staff at Motorola, which it bought last year. According to an email to employees -- seen by the Wall Street Journal -- a further 1,200 of them will get the chop. That's about 10 per cent of Motorola's workforce.

The cuts are in addition to 4,000 layoffs that started last August, when Google said it would lose 20 per cent of Motorola's staff. Tough times.

The email said that while Google is "very optimistic about the new products in our pipeline, we still face challenges." It added that "our costs are too high, we're operating in markets where we're not competitive and we're losing money." Staff in the US, India, and China will be among those let go.

Motorola continues to haemorrhage cash since Google took it over. It posted losses of more than $500 million (£335 million) and over $350 million (£234 million) in the third and fourth quarters of 2012 respectively. The next flagship device -- dubbed the X Phone -- is rumoured to be in the works, and is said to be quite a doozy, with gesture recognition expected to play a big part in the camera software. It could also be quite affordable, like the Nexus 4. An X Tablet is expected to follow.